Virginia Tech releases statement, provides update on skydiver who crashed during spring game

Virginia Tech held its spring game on Saturday, where the story of the afternoon quickly turned into a non-football topic. A skydiver crashed into the scoreboard at Lane Stadium, eventually needing assistance to get down.

Certainly a scary moment and not one anybody expected to see unfold during the first look of James Franklin‘s bunch. Thankfully, everything appears to be okay. Virginia Tech released a statement on the matter and provided an update on the skydiver.

“We are grateful to report that the skydiver was safely secured and is currently stable,” Virginia Tech Athletics said via X. “Our primary focus remains on their well-being. We extend our sincere appreciation to the first responders, event staff, and medical personnel for their swift, coordinated and professional response.”

Getting the skydiver down was a process, one that took a lot of precision. Having somebody dangling without much protection could easily turn into an even uneasier moment. However, Virginia Tech found somebody to get moving on the process right away.

Eventually, once the skydiver was down safely, the matter at hand did begin to take place — football. Virginia Tech is seeing its program go through a rebuild under Franklin. He comes to Blacksburg after a great deal of success at Penn State. Franklin was fired in the middle of the 2026 season but the Hokies feel as if he is capable of getting them back on the right track.

Saturday provided fans an opportunity to see what might be in store this fall. Spring games might not be what they used to be but Virginia Tech still put on a decent show. Everyone can be grateful that the people involved came out unharmed.

More on skydiver getting stuck on scoreboard at Lane Stadium

The skydiver’s parachute appeared to get stuck between the ‘C’ and ‘H’ of the word ‘Tech,’ ripping off the covering and exposing the lights beneath. The parachuter dropped the American flag — which fell with a smaller parachute of its own — into the stands below as they sat awaiting rescue.

This delayed the start of the spring game for over an hour as they worked to safely remove the individual amid a sea of fans below. The diver was successfully rescued after roughly 45 minutes.

It’s unclear what ultimately led to the parachute hooking over the video board. The skydiver’s partner was able to clear the board, though just barely.

On3’s Barkley Truaz contributed to this report